AP: Congressman to propose fence for U.S.-Mexico border

[question everything]

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Congressman to propose fence for U.S.-Mexico border

Plan to build fence along entire 2,000-mile stretch could cost billions of dollars. Critics say it would do little to stop illegal immigration.
By The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - A leading House Republican wants to build a fence along the entire 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, a plan that could cost billions of dollars and that critics say would do little to stop illegal immigration.

Rep. Duncan Hunter of San Diego, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, planned to announce legislation Thursday to create a two-layer reinforced fence with lighting and sensors from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, a 100-yard border zone to the north of the barriers, and 25 new ports of entry.

(snip)

A conservative group called Let Freedom Ring that is promoting a border fence estimates it would cost about $8 billion. The plan is controversial. Republican Gov. Bill Owens of Colorado recently announced his support, but Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, has said he doesn't think a fence would stop illegal immigration.

(snip)

Hunter's bill contains other immigration reforms including authorizing 10,000 new Border Patrol officers, empowering local police to enforce immigration laws and increasing penalties for hiring illegal immigrants.

(snip)

Find this article at:
http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/regstate/articles/1943262.html

[Fenris]

1. "Let Freedom Ring"

When I hear that phrase, I don't usually think "two-layer permiter wall along the border."

[BattyDem]

2. Ah yes ... nothing says "freedom" and "democracy" like a ...

a two-layer reinforced fence along the border. :eyes:

I can't help but wonder if they want to build it to keep Mexicans out ... or to keep us in? :scared:

[chat_noir]

11. Hey, these Freepers are on the job - no need for a fence

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1508583/posts

[DBoon]

3. There might be some Germans with expertise who could help

until recently they had a wall of just this sort.

[GregW]

4. And some Chinese ...

:eyes:

[GregW]

5. And I guess the French could help out too ...

:eyes:

[ret5hd]

9. what do you mean?

spell it out for me...i'm slow.

[GregW]

12. I was referring to the Maginot Line

A static defense constructed to protect France from invasion from Germany or Italy (post WWI). Of course, the Germans just invaded around it and attacked it from the rear.

Wikipedia reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maginot_Line

[ret5hd]

13. pardon my cynicism...really (nt)

[GregW]

7. And don't forget the Aussies!

Nothing says "Let Freedom Ring" like a rabbit or dingo proof fence!

[mitchtv]

21. You forgot Isreal

noted fence builders

[deadparrot]

6. *blink*

A...fence?

Um, okay. You go ahead and try that.

[Zynx]

8. I was expecting to see Tancredo, but Hunter doesn't surprise me.

[stepnw1f]

10. I Have a Better Idea

How about this country, this government, top supporting fascism in Mexico, so that people can earn real wages where they are born.

[ret5hd]

14. exactly. so few realize. (nt)

[joeunderdog]

20. How 'bout sharks with laser beams?

Er, eh, I mean, since we are allowing ridiculous suggestions tonight...

[IndianaGreen]

15. How can we expect the Syrians to control their border with Iraq

when we cannot control our own border with Mexico?

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

16. Ah, Halliburton has acquired a fence company?

[Disturbed]

17. Haliburton to get contract and hire Mexicans on the other side

to build it?

How about hiring enuff law enforcement to enforce the laws already in place? Maybe actually fining CEOs and other company officers that hire illegal workers? Maybe jail time for offenders would be a good idea? When the US Military is caught hiring illegal workers you know that there is a real problem in the US. Yes, this happened recently. As long as people in the US are hiring illegal workers the flow will continue.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

25. Blackwater can man the towers

and hire Mexican guards at $2/hour

[Cerridwen]

18. To paraphrase their "messiah"

"Mr. Bush, tear down this wall!"

Sorry, I'm in a strange mood tonight.

[SouthernDem2004]

19. So securing our border is bad???

[hollowdweller]

24. Really. I don't think the fence will work but it's a start.

Besides the economic aspect of lowering US wages by all the cheap labor coming in, we can spend all kinds of money fighting bird flu and if people bring it across the southern border it is wasted. I'm all for immigration, but you talk to any of the people living near the borders and all the illegals crossing are really fucking their quality of life up.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

26. No. Securing our border is fine.

But this is simply silly.
Walls are merely impedements for the honest. Just like locks. It is a horrific waste of time, and an admission of failure on a grand scale.

[Solon]

32. Securing our border isn't bad, wasting money is bad...

I'm just wondering as to who would profit from a fruitless endevour like this. Billions of dollars for a fence that a 15 dollar wirecutter can breach? If they were serious, how about more border patrol agents, reform NAFTA to help Mexico and Central America develop viable LOCAL economies, and then finally leave their governments ALONE, no more overthrowing those we don't like cause they badmouth our government! Blowback is a bitch, 9/11 should be proof enough of that.

[bain_sidhe]

22. To keep "them" out, or us in? n/t

[leesa]

29. Hunter is a true fascist....I'm sure both would be desirable.

[electricray]

23. Subtitle: 1000s of Republicans wonder who will work for $3 an hour now? nt

[AirAmFan]

27. Will it be like the Berlin Wall, with marksmen and machine guns?

How many tiers of razor wire will parallel the wall? Will there be minefields? Moats? Wolves?

This is absolutely RIDICULOUS!

[leesa]

28. How utterly idiotic. Figures Duncan Hunter, 'lemon chicken with pilaf' ,

would be involved in this nonsense. How about heavy fines for the corporations that HIRE illegal immigrants, Duncan. That would be the easy, cheap and effective method.

[Robeson]

30. So he wants us to build our own Berlin Wall? Wow. I guess Republicans...

...and the former Soviets have more in common than I thought.

[drfresh]

31. Good. And it might even pay for itself.

Not like the Iraq war would supposedly pay for itself... but yeah. This is a bold idea, and I'm glad Hunter suggested it -- it will at least renew the debate how to deal with the border problems. Whether its a practical idea remains to be seen. I hope nobody here disputes that illegal immigration costs our gov't billions of dollars each year:

Illegal alien households are estimated to use $2,700 a year more in services than they pay in taxes, creating a total fiscal burden of nearly $10.4 billion on the federal budget in 2002.

http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalrelease.html

That said, I agree with Munoz in the article that "it doesn't really deal with why people are migrating." A lot of it has to do with the Mexican economy, which is largely out of our control.

Flame away!

[Solon]

33. Yeah, just like Iraq, it will be a money hole...

far too expensive to maintain such a structure, in any form you like, there is simply too much border for them to cover. BTW: We have more control over their economy than you think, NAFTA, to put it simply, but our corporations employ their workers on both sides of the borders, with little oversight from our government on this side of the border. Dismantle NAFTA, and try to replace it with more fair trade that will encourage LOCAL economic growth in Mexico and Central America, and you know what, 90% of the reason why illegals come here in the first place disappears. No need for us to WASTE money on stupid ass projects like this, instead of building walls, we help build opportunites.

[demobrit]

34. Remember the Iron curtain

Is this Fence to keep people out or keep people in?

[nadinbrzezinski]

36. my guess is... IN

[nadinbrzezinski]

35. Sensenbrenner did not propose this?

wow duncan must be in trouble!

[Judi Lynn]

37. Republican wants to fence US-Mexico border

Thursday, November 3, 2005 · Last updated 1:04 a.m. PT

Republican wants to fence US-Mexico border

By ERICA WERNER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

WASHINGTON -- A House Republican wants to build a fence along the entire 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, a plan that could cost billions of dollars and one that critics say would do little to stop illegal immigration.

California Rep.

, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, plans to introduce legislation that would create a two-layer reinforced fence with lighting and sensors from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, a 100-yard border zone to the north of the barriers and 25 new ports of entry.

Currently, most of the westernmost 14-mile stretch of the border is lined with parallel fencing. There is secure fencing at other vulnerable points, but long stretches of the border are protected only by patchy barbed wire or nothing at all.

"Illegal aliens continue to funnel directly into many of our local communities and adversely impact our way of life by overwhelming our schools, inundating our health care system and, most concerning, threatening our safety," said Hunter, who was working on the bill with Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Va.
(snip/...)

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1153AP_Border_Fence.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Their copy got snarfed up. They mean to say "California Rep. Duncan Hunter....." It's repeated here, at another site I couldn't use, as it's not dated:

California Rep. Duncan Hunter, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, plans to introduce legislation that would create a two-layer reinforced fence with lighting and sensors from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, a 100-yard border zone to the north of the barriers and 25 new ports of entry.
(snip)

http://www.kristv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4066795&nav=Bsmh



Duhncan Hunter

[superconnected]

38. Amazing how the repugs have convinced themselves it's poor minorities

ruining America.

While taking a blind eye to Bush.

[DainBramaged]

39. Wow, wonder who gets the contract, hmmmmm

Let's see, this guy wants to cut off the Thuglies supply of illegals. THink he gets support on the next election go around? These pigs don't care about human rights, and this grandstanding is typical. Except he is outnumbered in SoCal.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

40. a plan that could cost billions of dollars.....

Wouldn't be cheaper to use that money to help rebuild Mexico?

O I forgot, Fox is a crook like Bush.

Melonhawg

Proud Members of Melonhawg Society

[annabanana]

41. oh fer cryin out loud... their think tank is a playpen..

Just how stupid ARE these guys?

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

42. It is stupid to question these people /sarcasm/

It worked for Germany didn't it? Why not here?? :sarcasm:

[DrZeeLit]

43. Duncan Hunter is a flaming asshole. And yes, I have met him.

What a piece of work. He is horrible, his staff is horrible, and his ego has a hard time fitting through doors. That said, Duncan Hunter is a racist pig who I had to work with in conjunction with the Simpson-Mazzoli Immigration Act.

And why is a Rep from Virginia worrying about the Mexican border? Not enough stuff in Va to worry about?

[yurbud]

44. try this instead: throw farmers, sweatshop owners, and Beverly Hills...

yentas in jail for a night for HIRING illegals.

They would take our labor laws seriously then, there wouldn't be jobs for illegals, after a while fewer would come for the fewer jobs, and you wouldn't need a fence.

[Nothing Without Hope]

45. Here's the BBC report of this disgusting story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4407558.stm
title: Bid to seal off US-Mexico border

[Jose Diablo]

46. The Great Wall in China didn't stop Khan

Why should we expect a stretch of fencing will stop illegal aliens from crossing into the southwest?

What should happen, to stop the crossing, is to change the conditions that make crossing desirable and profitable. Like the deep poverty in Central America and profitability of companies that use the cheap labor these illegals provide.

If the motive and profit is removed, the crossing will stop.

Edit to add: Thinking it through, the fence is not about keeping someone out, it's to keep us in as they reduce us to economic slaves. And of course, some Republicans will get very rich selling the material and labor to build this fence.

Maybe a better solution is to tell our friends across the border that they MUST pass and enforce a fair labor law, to go with the fair trade law, that makes it manditory to pay a 'living wage'. I'd say $8/hour is fair. That should remove the desire to come here. I doubt the United Fruit Company would like this though, but as they say, tough shit.

[rodeodance]

47. Irarel is walling themselves in, now the US to follow this example. um..

[Hekate]

48. Now these geniuses want to build the Berlin Wall?! Creepy

Who are they keeping out -- or are they keeping us in? I don't recall signing up to live inside a prison in the name of security. The paranoid lunatics of the Bush administration are destroying us.

Since the founding of this nation it has been our pride that we had thousands of miles of open borders with our neighbors, both north and south. Creating a DMZ is bad in every sense of the word. And it won't work.

Nauseating.

Hekate